Despite dressing only 16 skaters due to injuries and players on recall to the Ottawa Senators, the B-Sens cruised to a 6-2 victory over the visiting Charlotte Checkers Friday night. Jim O’Brien led the offensive charge, scoring half of the B-Sens goals and earning his first professional hat trick. Eric Gryba, Ryan Keller and Corey Locke also added goals for Binghamton, while Kaspars Daugavins and Patrick Wiercioch recorded three and two assists, respectively. Barry Brust earned the nod in goal stopping 37 of 29 shots faced, en route to the victory. Jacob Micflickier recorded a goal and an assist for the Checkers in the loss, while teammate Chris Terry notched a pair of assists.

Saturday, Feb. 19: Albany 3, Binghamton 4

Shots: Albany 45, Binghamton 34

PP: Albany 1 for 5, Binghamton 1 for 2

The B-Sens won their sixth straight game, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since the 2004-05 season, as rookie forward Mike Hoffman scored with less than a second remaining in overtime to lift the B-Sens to victory in dramatic fashion. All three regulation B-Sens goals came consecutively within the second period of play. Patrick Wiercioch, Roman Wick and Kaspars Daugavins each tallied goals to give the B-Sens a 3-1 lead. With 11 seconds remaining in the middle period, Steve Zalewski scored his second goal of the game to pull the Devils within one, while Alexander Vasyunov would earn the tying goal at 9:37 of the third, which would ultimately force overtime. Barry Brust made his second straight start in goal for Binghamton, stopping 42 of 45 shots.

Record:30-20-3-3

Standings:The B-Sens are currently tied with the Norfolk Admirals for fourth place in the East Division (66 points).

The league-leading Penguins (42-15-0-0, 84 points) make the trip to the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena on Wednesday night for the seventh of eight meetings between the two teams. The B-Sens have a slight edge on their East Division rivals, having gone 3-2-0-1 against them so far this season. Two of the three victories over the Pens have come at the hands of B-Sens’ net minder Barry Brust, who is expected to start tomorrow. Brust helped lead the B-Sens to a 5-1 victory on Nov. 12 and a 5-2 victory on Nov. 25 against WBS. Although the Pens have found themselves in a similar situation as the B-Sens with call-ups to their National Hockey League parent club, the team received reinforcements today when forward, and captain, Ryan Craig as well as defenseman Brian Strait were re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre.

Friday, Feb. 25 @ Syracuse Crunch (Anaheim Ducks)

The B-Sens travel to the Oncenter in Syracuse to take on the Crunch Friday, a team they have won four straight meetings against this season and have outscored 23 to 6. The Crunch enter the week in eighth place in the East Division standings with a record of 19-30-2-4 and 44 points. Syracuse forward Nicolas Deschamps leads the team in scoring with 29 points (ten goals, 19 assists) in 55 games played. The Crunch roster also features former B-Sens goaltender Ray Emery. Emery signed a one-year, two-way contract with Anaheim back on Feb. 7 and was assigned to the Crunch where he has since appeared in two games, posting a 1-1-0 record, and 2.54 goals-against average. Friday night could be the first action that goaltender Pascal Leclaire sees in a B-Sens uniform. Leclaire, who was assigned to Binghamton by Ottawa for conditioning yesterday, spent parts of four seasons with the Crunch.

Saturday, Feb. 26 vs. Rochester Americans (Florida Panthers)

The Amerks return to the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena Saturday for the fourth and final time this season. The teams last met two weeks ago, as the B-Sens shutdown the Amerks at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, 3-0. Barry Brust made 36 saves in the victory to earn his then league leading sixth shutout of the season against Rochester (Brust is now tied for first overall with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Brad Thiessen). The Amerks currently sit at seventh overall in the North Division standings with a record of 26-27-3-2 and 57 points, but improved to 6-4-0-0 in their last ten games with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Hamilton Bulldogs Monday afternoon. Amerks’ leading scorer Michal Repik scored a pair of goals in the Monday afternoon tilt, his first multi-goal game of the season. Overall Repik leads his Amerks teammates with 45 points (11 goals, 34 assists) in 52 games played this season.

Promotions: The first 1,000 fans through the gate on Saturday will receive a free B-Sens cowbell courtesyof MeadWestvaco.

Sunday, Feb. 27 @ Adirondack Phantoms (Philadelphia Phantoms)

The B-Sens round out a week of four games in five nights with a trip to Glens Falls on Sunday to take on the Adirondack Phantoms (18-30-3-6, 45 points). The B-Sens are 4-1-0-0 against the East Division rival Phantoms, but have split the two games played at the Glens Falls Civic Center so far this season, 1-1. Former B-Sens captain Denis Hamel continues to lead the Phantoms in scoring with 33 points (17 goals, 16 assists) in 43 games played. Since joining the Phantoms in November, Hamel has appeared in four games against his former team, but hasn’t tallied a point against the B-Sens since his two goal performance back on Nov. 6 in a 7-3 Adirondack loss at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

SENS SNIPPETS…

With back-to-back victories last week, the B-Sens haven’t lost in regulation for eight straight games and are currently riding a season high six game winning streak. The last time the B-Sens won more than five games in a row was during the 2004-05 season when the team went on to win nine straight: Jan. 7, 2005 versus Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (a 5-1 win) to Jan. 26, 2005 versus Providence (a 5-4 win). So far in 2011 the B-Sens are 15-5-1-1 (9-3-1-0 on the road).

Barry Brust set a new club record Friday night against Charlotte as he earned his eighth straight win in goal. The previous record was held by both Billy Thompson and Ray Emery, who each won seven straight games during the 2004-05 season.

Rookie Patrick Wiercioch scored a pair of points in back-to-back games for the B-Sens last week. His two assists on Friday versus Charlotte resulted in his first multi-point game as a pro. He also notched a goal and an assist Saturday versus Albany.

B-SENS BRINGING IT HOME TO THE COMMUNITY…

Have you heard about the Binghamton Senators 7th Man Program? The B-Sens have teamed up with the Magic Paintbrush Project for this special program which increases access for families and individuals with special needs in the Southern Tier community, enabling them to actively participate in the B-Sens hockey experience. For each B-Sens home game, one lucky family receives four tickets to the game, with a special concierge assigned to assist the family and provide accessibility support. Each family is visited by the B-Sens mascot Max and has the opportunity to meet and greet a player post game (schedule permitting). If you or someone you know would be interested in participating in the 7th Man Program please contact the Magic Paintbrush Project at 607-729-5059.